The European Parliament’s Media Working Group, led by MEP David Casa, on Thursday welcomed the guilty plea by Vincent Muscat, one of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s killers, and his sentencing.

Muscat’s admission of guilt also led to the arrest of those who were allegedly involved in creating the explosive device that was used in the murder.

The MEPs, from different political groups, said there was still “a very long road ahead” for full justice to be achieved.

All those who were involved in the assassination and the efforts to cover it up “must face justice” they said. 

“But we must also see that those exposed by Daphne Caruana Galizia’s investigations are prosecuted.

“It is only then that we can conclude that the integrity of Malta’s institutions is being restored. It is of great concern that persons formerly at the highest levels of political power in Malta, exposed by Daphne Caruana Galizia as having been involved in high-level corruption and money laundering, have yet to face judicial proceedings,” the group said.

It said it was of greater concern that recent revelations had shown further links between the current government and the alleged mastermind of the assassination, involving the exchange of thousands of euro under dubious circumstances and that there have as yet been “no consequences resulting from such revelations”.  

Times of Malta had revealed that Parliamentary Secretary Rosianne Cutajar received a bagful of cash from murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech for her role in brokering a €3.1 million property sale.

On Sunday, the newspaper said Cutajar also solicited “help” from Fenech for a political survey in her district in 2019.

“It is when revelations by journalists are ignored by a country’s institutions and when impunity is allowed to run rampant that journalists are most vulnerable,” they said.

In this regard, they said, they saw limited progress in Malta and called upon the authorities to take decisive action to rectify “these clear and persistent failings”.